This morning, Caleb brought this poor, pitiful slinky toy to me and asked if I could fix it. I think since it's invention, mothers have had the same need laid in their lap. He said, "It looks fixed and normal when I stretch it out, but when I stop stretching it out, it is messed up." He, then, demonstrated this to me as proof. Sure enough, when he pulled the coil out-stretched across his body, the coils looked correctly looped. However, as soon as the coil was allowed to relax, it would kink up into a misshapen form. I had to inform him that the coil would probably never look as it once did. Then, the thought hit me.... in our society it is "normal" for people to stretch themselves out in the frenzy of day to day tasks and needs. In the quiet stillness, when the frenzy has died down, only then do we see that all the stretching has changed us. Suddenly, the constant motion and pushing of the day doesn't feel so "normal" and right after all. We, as a society, try to put as much into a 24 hour period as possible and esteem those who can get mass amounts of work or action down within it. Working hard is certainly noble and honorable, but we must be careful not to sacrifice other valuable things in the process.... things like time with the Father, resting in His presence, time with those we love, time spent doing things we love to do.... the list could go on and on.
I once overheard a group of incredible Christian ladies talking and realized that they were discussing the medications they were on to keep them calm from day to day with all that they juggle. The consensus was that between work, family, and home commitments they needed the medications to handle it all. Now, I do believe many people need these medications to manage the anxiety that they deal with due to certain conditions. However, I had to wonder, are we pushing ourselves too hard? If so many need medication daily just to manage all the burdens they carry on their plate, what are we missing as a society? Is it that we need to change our values? Is it that we haven't learned to truly lay our burdens at His feet? Are we too focused on having "things" and managing them that we sacrifice our peace? Hard questions.... and I will not presume to have all the answers.
Here is what I do know... "Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you." (Philippians 4:6-9 NLT)
Peace will come when I pray about everything burdening my heart. When I share my daily needs and struggles with Him and thank Him for all the ways I see Him working in my life. By doing this, my eyes are opened to see Him more clearly at work in my life which will open the floodgates of praise in my soul. Then, His peace.... HIS peace, will guard my heart and mind as I live this life in Christ. So, I must fix my mind on Him as that is what is honorable, right, pure, lovely and admirable and think about the things worthy of praise. Then, do all that He has taught me.... not just hear it and admire it- DO it and then the God of PEACE will be with me. This all requires time with Him... deep, intimate time with Him. To often we toss in a couple of scriptures and prayers into our day as we rush from one task to another, but is that really enough? Would any relationship survive with that kind of communication?
Where are you today? I pray that each of us will stop and do some evaluating of our personal walk with Him. We all can and need to grow deeper in our spiritual intimacy with the Father. Our peace (or lack of it) is but an indicator of the closeness we share with Him. Let us lift each other up in prayer and seek Him for wisdom and guidance in how to draw closer to Him and let peace rule our hearts and minds.
Blessings!
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